After three years on the road, the touring production of the classic Broadway musical "West Side Story" made it to Bangkok last Tuesday and, while Joey McKneely's recreation of the award-winning choreography leaps tall buildings, the below-par sound system puts the show six feet under.

Whether you enjoy it will likely depend on where you're sitting.

The show continues tonight and tomorrow at the Thailand Cultural Centre.

Checking in with other media reviewers, I was assigned an aisle seat in Row Q - a "very good" Bt5,000 seat, a publicist told me. I'd never before been so far from the stage to review a performance, either in this country or on Broadway.

Within a few minutes of the curtain rising, all of us sitting beyond Row N realised that we could barely see the performers' facial expressions, or even get a sense of their talents.

Other complaints:

l Although Leonard Bernstein's music, under the baton of Donald Chan, was always vibrant and clear, it was not well balanced with the singing.

l And while Arthur Laurent's script and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics are filled with wit and intriguing messages, the sound system left many viewers feeling as though they'd never studied English. Audience reactions were scarce among those who didn't doze off.

l The Cultural Centre's Main Hall was not built specifically for musical theatre. It's a multipurpose auditorium that can serve all forms of entertainment, but none well.

Given two days to ready the production, the technical crew couldn't adjust, and failed to deliver the advertised Broadway standards.

l Once underway, latecomers were escorted to their seats at inappropriate moments and, yes, there was the usual cell-phone chorus accompanying the onstage action.

The promoter, followed by the pre-show announcer, reaffirmed that this was "the first Broadway production in Thailand" and that "Joey McKneely is a Broadway legend" (he was twice nominated for Tony Awards).

But the first act was quite simply my worst experience in 11 years of watching Broadway shows.

At the intermission, with some audience members heading home, I did something I'd never done at any Broadway playhouse: I moved up to a better seat.

With fewer distractions, the entertainment quotient improved, though not in a Jekyll-and-Hyde sort of way.

With strong acting, dancing and singing skills, inner realism and sheer sincerity, the 35-member cast was commendable. In the male lead as Tony, Brian Hissong was effortless, giving his character a youthful and passionate charm. Some viewers may have wondered, though, at the range of Latin American accents in his street gang, the Sharks.

Paul Gallis' set design was simple, yet theatrically practical and effective. Peter Halbsgut's lighting, though, lacked dimension, freezing the performers in the stage frame as if on a movie screen. Perhaps someone is telling us that this is a touring production, and to look elsewhere for spectacle.

In a startling contrast, a few weeks ago Portuguese singer Mariza - unknown here until that night - earned a standing ovation at Bangkok's International Festival of Music and Dance.

We have known "West Side Story" for almost five decades, and highly anticipated its arrival for weeks, and yet not a single member of the audience stood up when the show ended on Tuesday night.

And, despite the story's tragic ending, not a tear was shed.

Hopefully, the next "Broadway production" to visit Bangkok will better represent what Broadway really is at this moment. In the meantime, fans can start saving their money for a flight to Singapore next month to see "Notre Dame de Paris". Although it has no link to Broadway and is being performed in French, we may enjoy it more.

"West Side Story" is on again tonight and tomorrow at 2.30 and 7.30pm.

The writer can be contacted at Pawit.M@chula.ac.th.

Pawit Mahasarinand

The Nation